Boys Swimming Notebook: South Windsor Boys Coach Has High Praise For 7-2 Team

Led by coach Rob Ensling, South Windsor, in its third year as a boys swim program, finished 7-2, with losses to Wethersfield and Glastonbury. The Bobcats also handed Farmington its only loss.

"I knew I was inheriting a good team, but didn't know exactly how talented the kids were," Ensling said in an email. "The hard work ethic these kids bring to practice makes it easy to do my job. Being a new coach [here] ... my fear was that they wouldn't adopt a new training program. To my surprise, it seems like it has worked out well."

"With Class L trials coming up this Saturday, I'm just hoping that all the training they did during the season has prepared them correctly," Ensling said. "And now that they are starting to rest leading up to the meet, it's very important to stay focused on their goals. They all have good seeds and I'm excited to see how it turns out."

Under an agreement with the board of education, the swimming programs at the school have been fully funded by families and fundraisers for the past three years. Pending town council approval, swimming will be added to the school board's budget next year.

Preparing For States

Wethersfield has been preaching practice all season long in preparation for the Class M meet. Championship week is finally on the horizon for coach Lee Schwartzman.

"We joke that I'm the one who created this monster that we swim for States," Schwartzman said. "That's the purpose."

Seventeen of 20 swimmers have qualified and one diver, Cormac Hurley, will also compete for the Eagles.

As far as Schwartzman is concerned, Saturday, the Class M trials, decide the season because the team needs to be in a position to score points in the finals. The trials are in Branford at 3:30 p.m. The Class M final is Wednesday at Wesleyan. After reviewing the psych sheet showing the times and seedings, Schwartzman thinks his team is in the fourth position. The coach admitted that when the numbers came in he wasn't pleased but times aren't going to be the fastest going into competition.

"The goal isn't to be the fastest going into [States], the goal is to be the fastest coming out of [States]," Schwartzman said. "We've got some work to do to get up and be in the hunt at the end."

It is now taper week, when teams don't swim as many yards or for as long, with the goal to swim fast when it counts.

Perfect Regular Season

The success of the Glastonbury swim program usually doesn't surprise anyone. This season, however, the Tomahawks' 13-0 regular season record was a surprise to many, especially Glastonbury coach Suzie Hoyt.

"These kids all stepped up, the captains and senior class especially," Hoyt said. "Everyone had to make sure their swim or dive counted, because it did."

Hoyt said her team has surprised her every step of the way, but even she admits that the perfect regular season comes with a small disclaimer. A Feb. 8 meet against Fairfield Prep was canceled due to the blizzard.

"We would've lost that meet, no doubt in my mind," Hoyt said.

The Tomahawks have 16 swimmers who qualified for States. The young, inexperienced team most recently broke six records at the CCC North meet and diver Sam Hoyt notched an All-American qualifying score.